Team Sawyer & Tristan

In an average week in Texas...

• 7,723 babies are born.
• 1,001 babies are born preterm
• 335 babies are born with a birth defect
• 48 babies die before their first birthday

* March of Dimes

After Sawyer & Tristan passed away, Trae and I were left with holes in our hearts and a lost feeling on what direction to turn to for proper support for child loss.  It was important to us to start our healing process together while honoring our boys and remembering them, always.  We knew of the March of Dimes organization from friends' fundraising efforts and from the boys' NICU nurses and decided to start a Family Team with the March of Dimes.  We received such generous donations from family and friends to the March of Dimes and Threads of Love after the boys passing and memorial service, that the local offices knew our family by name when they were contacted by us. 

 Our local Austin March of Dimes chapter welcomed us to the organization with open arms and quickly put me in contact with a local Family Team captain, named Melissa, who has a similar story of baby loss as ours.  Melissa took my by the hand, helping me navigate through my first few weeks as a Mom of angels and helped me start our Family Team.  We named our Family Team: "Team Sawyer & Tristan" and set forth an initial fundraising goal of $2113.00, for the boys birthdate.  Within 24 hours our goal had been surpassed and we were continuing to raise money!  We knew our boys were loved by so many, but it became clear to us that our friends were helping us spread their name and story with every dollar donated, so we raised our personal goal to be the highest Family Team fundraiser in the city, a title my new friend Melissa has held for the past 2 years in a row.  Melissa encouraged us to reach this goal, continuing to help where she could along the way.

With our team page set up and fundraising efforts under way, we set our sights on planning the March for Babies 5k walk in May.  With the help of our good friends, Heidi & Jonathan Parker, we came up with a team logo to design T-shirts to sell for the walk (proceeds going to March of Dimes) and Jonathan's company made a banner for us to walk with.  

The event day we were blessed with a cool Texas morning and the sun shining on all us walking for our babies.  We had family and friends, from all over the state come to walk with us.  We had friends texting us pictures of them wearing our shirts with pride the day of the walk, despite them not being able to come in person.  We also had a large outpouring of support from our new OB's office staff, both coming to walk and purchasing our shirts & wristbands.  We felt so blessed to have so many people come out to remember our son's during the month they were due to be born, originally.   

Working with the March of Dimes has given us the opportunity to raise awareness of Cervical Insufficiency, Prematuraty and the story of Sawyer, Tristan, Trae and myself.  We hope to be able to help other babies and pregnant women through the funds we've raised in memory of Sawyer & Tristan through research the March of Dimes continues to do.  We will plan to continue our fundraising efforts with March of Dimes through Team Sawyer & Tristan in the years to come and invite anyone who wants to come celebrate their lives to walk with us!  The walk is a fun, celebratory event with tons of kids activities, laughs and music.**Next year the walk will be in Round Rock on May 8th as Zilker Park will be under construction during that time.**

 All in all, we feel lucky to have found such a worthy organization that allows Trae and I to feel like parents every day- a priceless gift.